Alper Durukan

Van Yuzuncu Yil University · Science Education

The TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) framework has gained popularity as a model for technology integration in teacher education. However, some researchers have pointed out potential limitations or critiques. I'm interested in further examining the possible shortcomings of TPACK in order to have a more balanced perspective. What are some of the key criticisms or limitations that have been identified regarding the TPACK and related frameworks?

For example, some have argued that TPACK:

I would appreciate any insights on these or other potential weaknesses of the TPACK model based on your own research or experience applying TPACK. The goal is not to dismiss TPACK entirely but to understand where it may fall short in order to strengthen technology integration training and support for teachers. What limitations have you encountered when utilizing or studying TPACK and TPACK-derived perspectives/frameworks?

Thank you for providing your valuable contribution.

Dear fellow academicians, firstly I wish the health & safety of you and your relatives during this pandemic; and present my kindest regards from Turkey. I am working on a research project that is orientated towards the pre-service training of science teachers through the utilization of low-end VR (Virtual reality) materials. Although bearing a humble background regarding this topic, I am also aware that there is still much to go before sufficiently rationalizing it and inferring any potential conclusions as a result of such an intervention.

Therefore, I am asking for your thoughts, backing, and counter-arguments against the use of VR in the training of pre-service science teachers. As a tentative outline, I am proposing the basic elements as follows;

The central educational gap that will be addressed: I plan to address the artificiality of the science instruction in the classrooms, which have been torn apart from the actual context that modern science is concerned with. My preliminary target in this manner is the facilitation of the instructional practices of pre-service science teachers.

Underlying theoretical perspective: I plan to adhere to the Contextual learning theory as my central perspective of research. In the research on VR-assisted science education, the most prominent tendency is the lack of theory, particularly in manipulative interventions. Apart from that, the Experiential learning theory appears as the dominant choice in the relevant literature, which primarily is in-line with high-end VR materials. However, I am keen to believe that the nature of contextual learning is compatible more with low-end VR materials, which I plan to utilize for this intervention.

What is the nature of the intervention that you plan to develop?: During the micro-teaching practices of pre-service science teachers, I plan to require them to use their mobile phones as VR headsets with the phone shell that I will provide. The reflections of this intervention will be evaluated with the focus group interviews and the quantitative queries regarding the technology acceptances of the participants as well as the peer reviews between the participants and the initial feedbacks of mine for them

Who is the target group of the intervention?: The target group of the intervention thought to consists of the pre-service science teachers from a state university that enrolled in the "Instructional Technologies" course.

What kind of setting will you use?: I plan to train and encourage the participants to use low-end VR during their micro-teaching practices during the approximately 12-week semester, first three weeks allocated for the necessary training. The required hardware power is abundant as the participants will use their devices, as the VR interface framework named Google Cardboard is compatible with most of the consumer devices. The head-mounted displays that I will provide are low-cost tools that just contain two biconvex optic lenses and an area that the smartphones from different sizes can be embedded. This even can be DIY' ed using regular cardboards, as the name suggests.

What kind of learning outcomes do you plan to target?: Technology acceptance of pre-service teachers, primarily through the mixed-method evaluations, in order to ensure the triangulation(s) of data, method, inferences resulting from these.

What I am requesting from you resembles a pre-peer-review for such a construction. For example, I would be flattered if you would propose alternative learning theories to take as the basis of such an intervention, sharing your ideas, the suitable VR-based materials, resources and tools to use in the process and may even propose an adequate educational design research framework for me to adhere to.